River lighthouses: The smaller siblings

The Roanoke River Lighthouse in Edenton is reflected in the water of Edenton Bay.

Photo by Bill Hand/Sun Journal Staff

By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Saturday, July 19, 2014 at 07:59 PM.

Throughout the past few weeks we’ve looked at the majestic coastal towers known as North Carolina’s lighthouses … from the humble and quaint Ocracoke to North America’s tallest, Cape Hatteras.

But those lighthouses had smaller siblings as well: towers and stations and even ships that kept watch not only over the shoals, but along rivers as well.

As to the river lights, nearly all have been torn down after their use was outlived, or destroyed by retreating Confederates more interested in survival than posterity. But there are a few, original and facsimiles, that you can still see:

Prices Creek Lighthouse

The 25-mile stretch from the ocean up Cape Fear River to Wilmington was once lit by a system of seven small lighthouses and a lightship. Built from 1849-50, these stations were the same style of round, brick towers as their ocean sisters, sloping from about 17 feet at the base to 9 feet where the lantern room set.

Only Prices Creek remains, and it is a ruin standing at 20 feet, minus its lantern room (which would have brought it to 35 feet).

Throughout the past few weeks we’ve looked at the majestic coastal towers known as North Carolina’s lighthouses … from the humble and quaint Ocracoke to North America’s tallest, Cape Hatteras.

But those lighthouses had smaller siblings as well: towers and stations and even ships that kept watch not only over the shoals, but along rivers as well.

As to the river lights, nearly all have been torn down after their use was outlived, or destroyed by retreating Confederates more interested in survival than posterity. But there are a few, original and facsimiles, that you can still see:

Prices Creek Lighthouse

The 25-mile stretch from the ocean up Cape Fear River to Wilmington was once lit by a system of seven small lighthouses and a lightship. Built from 1849-50, these stations were the same style of round, brick towers as their ocean sisters, sloping from about 17 feet at the base to 9 feet where the lantern room set.

Only Prices Creek remains, and it is a ruin standing at 20 feet, minus its lantern room (which would have brought it to 35 feet).

The light has not been used since the Civil War. Robert Ruark, son of its last keeper, visited it in 1868 and fell through the rotting stairs. A splinter of board, not as rotten as the rest, impaled him and he died. I assume there are ghost stories of his wandering shade, but I haven’t heard them.

You can’t actually visit this lighthouse as it is on private land, but you can get a good view of the lighthouse for the $5 price of a ticket on the state-run Fort Fisher-Southport ferry, south of Wilmington. You’ll see it at the tail-end of the ride if you are going to Southport, as the ferry rounds the long docks of the ADM Corporation on the right, or on the left side just after you leave Southport Ferry for Fort Fisher.

Ronaoke River Lighthouse: Edenton

This is the real square and screw piling river lighthouse, the original structure that used to sit on screw pilings about a half mile from shore where the Albermarle empties into the Roanoke River. Being the real one gives it definite bragging rights, for it is the only river lighthouse still in existence of the 29 that used to dot the Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds.

Like other lighthouses, it wasn’t the first in its place: an the original, built in 1866, caught fire and burned in 1886. An identical one, built shortly after, fell over when ice floes collapsed some of its pilings. Ice on the river wasn’t always an uncommon occurrence, Phillips noted. “I remember when I was young, the Sound froze all the way across.”

The lighthouse in Edenton today was built in 1886. It is a 24 by 24 foot building, two stories high, with a light tower going a third story up. A lightkeeper and his assistant took turns manning the station, but their families remained on shore. “It was isolated duty,” Phillips said, so ships would bring boxes of books once a month to help them pass the time.

According to Phillips, the house was made of prefabricated parts, delivered ready to assemble in mortise and tendon fashion. It was accessed by a ladder and trap door, and a metal cistern caught water to supply its inhabitants.

Its light, an acetylene-powered Fresnel, was about three feet high.

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1941 and, a few years later, sold off. A man named Emmit Wiggins set up along shore and lived in it for some years until he died in 1995. The Eden Historic Commission bought and moved it afterward, using a $300,000 grant for the purpose.

The lighthouse is not currently open for touring, as its restoration by the state is not complete. However, Phillips expects it to be opened for guided tours on Aug. 7, which turns out to be National Lighthouse Day.

As for other things to do, Edenton is all about the Revolution. Right next door to the lighthouse is the Penelope Barker House, open free for tours. It was the colonial home of Ms. Barker, who was a primary organizer of the 1774 Tea Party, held by ladies of the area to protest the Tea Act.

The idea of ladies holding this protest was famously lampooned in a British cartoon, and Edenton’s fame was set. A gift shop is on the Barker House premises and you can’t turn around without bumping into tea or tea cups for sale.

Also in the town is a colonial courthouse and a small frame dwelling, at 304 East Queen Street, that was built in around the year 1718. It is possibly the oldest dwelling in North Carolina.

Roanoke River Lighthouse: Plymouth.

“They took our lighthouse,” a guide at the Roanoke Maritime Museum and Lighthouse told me, referring to Edenton. Citizens of the town couldn’t come up with money to purchase the original lighthouse – they consider it theirs since Plymouth is on the Roanoke River — and so they did the next best thing.

They built a replica.

The replica, which is of the original 1866 lighthouse that burned (and, in a second but identical incarnation, toppled over), as discussed above.

It is a little flatter on top than Edenton’s, but otherwise is very similar. The replica stands on land, but is located next to the Roanoke River.

You can tour the house for $3.50 and climb out onto its observation deck (you’ll have to duck and go through a trap door to do so), and the house has plaques explaining its history.

Tours are given Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Plymouth is proud of its Civil War history — it was one of the few North Carolina towns that Confederate forces were able to recapture late in the war. It is also the home of the CSS Albermarle, a Confederate gunboat built and ultimately sunk here. A 3/8-scale model of the boat is nearby and, while the boat’s museum has an entry fee, you can go and admire the model at no charge.

Another replica of this same lighthouse stands on the island of Manteo.